One parent's (and her kids') guide to navigating the library and bookstore. My recommendations in children's book classics . . . literature for little ones, then and now.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Charles Dickens rescues Christmas with A Christmas Carol

During this week in 1843, Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in Prose: Being A Ghost Story of Christmas. Let me tell you a little known fact (although, quite well known to the literary world): we can thank Charles Dickens for saving our modern day celebration of Christmas! Yep, Charles Dickens, the Victorian author, saved the celebration of Christmas when he published the instantly popular A Christmas Carol!

An authorial context: Dickens authentically represented a broad range of British population through his true depictions of life among various socio-economic backgrounds. Essentially, through his writing, he became a voice for the abused, ill-treated lower classes and raised awareness to better working conditions, living conditions, child labor reform, etc. His vivid characters unforgettably imprint themselves to memory and everyday conversation, point-in-case: "Scrooge" has become a vocabulary word, a noun meaning miser or the like. Consequently, Dickens' characters and authenticity endeared him to the vast reading public and made him equivalent to a modern day rock-star. Seriously, he is recognized as one of the very first "celebrities" in history.

Christmas needed rescuing? Due to Oliver Cromwell's influence in the mid 1600s (a.k.a. the English Civil War), the British slowly neglected the Medieval traditions of caroling and feasting during the Christmas season until Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's husband, mid 1800s) gallantly reintroduced the Germanic traditions of caroling and cards and, most significantly, introduced the Christmas tree.

What was Dickens's part in this rescue? Well, even though Prince Albert did his part to reintroduce English and Germanic Christmas traditions, he worked against the routines and national mindset established by the Industrial Revolution. You see, British businessmen, manufacturing employers, and mill owners had grown quite stingy -- think Scrooge -- by treating Christmas as just another 10-12 hour workday. So the impoverished, working class toiled through Christmas Day without any additional compensation.

So, in late 1843, Dickens published A Christmas Carol, creating some of the most memorable characters in literature. And in contrasting a stingy Scrooge with a poor suffering Tiny Tim Crachit and jolly Christmas celebrators Nephew Fred and Fizziwig against the backdrop of ghosts past-present-and-future, Dickens lured the public into a benevolent celebration of Christmas. Consider: wouldn't you rather be identified with Fizziwig than with Scrooge?!!

The rest is, as they say, history: Christmas once again became a season of giving and charitable behavior on both sides of the Atlantic. Dickens, through his story, helped reestablish our present day mind-set of Christmas as a season of renewal in goodwill, "peace on earth to all men," and familial bonds.

The featured edition: In discovering P. J. Lynch's illustrated version of A Christmas Carol (c. 2006), I have found the quintessential copy of Dickens' enduring tale. What amazes me is how well Lynch captures Dickens' characters! This is an illustrator who not only knows his author's works, but must have researched those illustrators who worked so closely with Dickens -- think ocd authorial input on each illustration. I'd like to think that if Dickens were alive today, he wouldn't be more pleased with Lynch's representation of his classic Christmas tale. Take time this holiday season to read Dickens A Christmas Carol, and if you get the opportunity, read P. J. Lynch's beautifully illustrated edition. I guarantee you, if the story doesn't haunt you, the illustrations will.

Disclaimer: it's very difficult for me to give credit where credit is due because I'm working from memory on this post. I'm writing from decades of reading and admiring Charles Dickens and his many works. I'm also writing from memory of various college lectures, in particular from a Dickens Seminar course.